During the FN3PT Congress on December 6th, 2023, the organization’s president, Eric Fallou, declared that consumer potato prices increased and it will stay that way for ‘a few more years’.

“[…] The press is alerting us these days about the consumer potato prices which have increased significantly. I can tell you that these prices will remain high for a few more years,” Fallou mentioned.

He added that at this moment, the context is not in favor of the French potato growers. Fallou declared that the potato hectarage decreased drastically in 2023 by 10.4%.

“[…] Whatever some say, this decline is not the fault of the potato producers or the fault of Mother Nature. We […] have been warning about this risk since 2018. And it is indeed a question of profitability of production which is at stake, profitability which is no longer there for us, producers. The prices paid to plant producers do not allow us to make a decent living from our production and to cope with the increase in production costs, the risks involved, regulatory constraints, climatic hazards, etc. This is indeed a subject of value and not just of price. We had already sounded the alarm but awareness did not arise. And 2024 is coming up with shortages of plants for users and this situation is likely to last four to five years because there is also the problem of strains to be renewed. It is therefore the sovereignty of the plant but also, by extension, that of the downstream sectors (fresh consumption and industry) which is called into question,” Eric Fallou said.

According to the FN3PT president, the French potato growers immediately need certified plants.

“PARSADA action plans, seeds, and plants are often cited as guarantees of quality and vectors of genetic progress, and therefore as important levers in the development of alternatives to plant protection products for downstream sectors. We can therefore imagine that there will always be a need for plant producers. But it is the production and marketing models that we must review and reinvent, and thus place the plant producer at the center of the system. To produce these certified plants, essential to downstream sectors, we also need an exception for seeds and plants and maintain all our quality production capacity. The French and European regulatory framework must make it possible to sustain our production, the AOP is fully mobilized and vigilant on the various texts currently under discussion. The varietal panel certainly needs to be reviewed, and a natural ‘selection’ is in any case taking place with the varieties sensitive to the virus which will disappear. The resources devoted to research need to be strengthened more than ever to imagine the new production models of tomorrow. In this context, the ITA inov 3PT (qualified last April) fully plays its role in the various action plans identified and to come as part of the first axis of Ecophyto 2030,” Fallou concluded.